This weekend I got engaged in the discussion on PR Conversations, started by the controversial article by Heather Yaxley: A Radical view of PR. Discussion unveiled to assess the Excellence theory, and Dr. J.Grunig gave us an honor by participating in the conversation. This is a great discussion to take place due to EUPRERA conference coming up in Milano in October on institutionalising of PR.

One of the biggest challenges for PR as a discipline is finding a common definition of PR and its role and functions in an organisation. The discussion clearly reveals a gap between academic position on defining PR, and the social reality of its practice today.

As I realise that there will always be tensions between practice and theory in any field, I find a couple of trends in this conflict disturbing. It is academic determination to move PR further away from marketing ignoring the web 2.0 trends altogether. The more I study social media, and business trends to employ web 2.0 tools in their communication efforts, both internal and external, I see the need for these two departments, or sciences for that matter, to work closely together in order to produce best results for both companies and their publics. Integrated communications today is the most optimal model for organisations to successfully operate in the society which is both highly fragmented, media savvy and technologically advanced. Isolating PR from this development will result in marketing taking over the tasks public relations traditionally has been doing for decades, and is very good at. 

Another thing which disturbed me in the course of the debate is learning something brand new about PR’s role in an organisation. While studying Masters in PR in Leeds Metropolitan University, I have never heard that PR’s function in an organisation was to provide “publics a voice in the decisions of organisations that affect them”, as Dr. Grunig and his advocates claim. I have learned that PR’s role was to help an organisation to navigate in dynamic environment by advising on the communication strategy which will in the long term strengthen the organisational reputation. While organisational reputation and societal welfare are closely interrelated it’s no longer a question whether company should behave ethically, and address the needs and expectations of its stakeholders. But being the voice of the society in an organisation, and serving the interests of the society as a whole (addressing stakeholders from the societal perspective, not only organisational, Grunig claims), rather than serving the interests of the employer - this is a new thing for me.

I have a feeling that from one extreme, often being the devil advocates, we are now moving to the next extreme, being pro-bono angels, neither of which reflects the reality of practice of public relations today. What about finding the golden middle, by trying to learn from the mistakes of the past, and continue doing what we do best: add value to both the organisation and our publics through informative, transparent and two-ways communications. Let’s admit it; we have neither competences nor aspirations to speak on the behalf of the society in its divergence and complexity.

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